Of Scrolls And Future Goals
by The Cat's Paw
Summary: After clearing some scrolls out to put into storage, eleven year old Sasuke runs into Sakura, who accidentally gets a hold of one of the scrolls. Becoming displaced by her future self, the two have to figure out how to get her back, though Sasuke isn't quite sure he wants the annoying version of Sakura back at all. Time Travel.
1. First Bit

**Hiya! A new story, with a new pen name for a new year and a new me!**

 **Disclaimer that I don't own and enjoy! :)**

 ** _Of Scrolls And_ _Future_ _Goals_**

 **First Bit**

He was being stalked.

Letting out a sigh, Sasuke pocketed the scrolls he had on him. He knew who it was, of course, she hadn't been subtle about it since she'd spotted him on Third Street of the marketplace, where he'd been to pick up an order of his favourite tomatoes. Not to mention that with her pink hair and red outfit, she stuck out like a sore thumb. Much like Naruto in that orange atrocity the idiot called clothes. How either of them were ever going to survive as ninjas… Che, they weren't his problem.

Making his way to a small, nearby public garden, Sasuke sat down on one of the benches, _knowing_ that Sakura was going to follow him there. And she did. Rather shyly, but determined, Sakura approached him, hands held behind her back, smiling in a way she probably thought was _cute_.

"Hello Sasuke-kun," she greeted him. "How are you doing today?"

"Hn," was all he said, and he saw her face fall for a moment at the lack of response, before she seemed to force it back up, and smile at him.

"It's a beautiful day," she went on. "Mind if I join you?"

Sasuke didn't answer, but Sakura took it upon herself to interpret that as an invitation. Of _course_ she did. She sat down next to him, a bit of a distance at first, but then she kept sidling up closer. Sasuke was _really_ wishing that he hadn't come out today, but he'd needed to stop by the market, as well as the main storage area that was set aside for him for things he found at the compound that he didn't want, or couldn't use. Like the scrolls burning a hole in his pocket.

Suddenly Sakura was right up against him, grabbing his arm and… _holding him close_. Repressing a shiver, Sasuke quickly disentangled himself and stood, turning and storming off.

"Sasuke-kun, wait!" Sakura called. "You dropped this!"

As Sasuke turned, he felt a weird sensation, like chakra calling out to him. He stared, agog, as the scroll Sakura held out started to glow, even as it also started to unfurl _itself_. Sakura's eyes were as wide as his as the light of what could only be chakra enveloped her, encompassing her entire body. There seemed to be a superimposed image over her, one that looked like another Sakura, but different, older. And yet, not taller, like it was attempting to fit in the same space as her.

Then suddenly, all the light and chakra vanished, and Sakura stared wide eyed before him. She stared at him, he stared at her, and he was about to demand that she hand over the scroll, and then drag her off to see an adult about what had happened. But then she said something that completely shocked him.

"Sasuke? What the heck am I doing here? How come you're so short? How come _I'm_ so short? What in the world is going on?"

Then she looked down at the unfurled scroll in her hands, her eyes widened in shock as she read. "Just what in the hell did you do, you bastard!?"

A fist was curled and threatening to connect with him. "I didn't do anything," Sasuke said. " _You're_ the one who picked up the scroll."

Sakura glared at him, not looking like she believed him. "Where did I get it?" she asked, no, demanded. "Where did _you_ get it? Because there's no way I had access to this kind of scroll, at… whatever age this is right now!"

"Hn," Sasuke said, and swore he saw her eye twitch, so he decided to _actually_ elaborate. "I'm delivering some scrolls from the compound to the storage set aside for these things."

He saw Sakura's fist relax, then she lowered it to her side. "Do you have any idea what this says?" she asked.

"…I didn't read it."

She sighed, and Sasuke felt a twinge of annoyance at her. "Just what the heck is going on with you?" he demanded. "A moment ago, you were acting all clingy, and now you're calling me a bastard and saying I shrunk?"

Sakura held out the scroll. "Read it, dumb ass," she said, and he glared at her as he snatched it from her to do so.

His eyes widened as he realised the consequences of what was written here. The scroll implied, no, it outright _stated_ that it was a kind of time travelling jutsu, one that only someone of non-Uchiha blood could use. That was probably why it didn't do anything while he was handling it. But if the scroll were to be believed… He glanced up at Sakura, understanding more now why she'd suddenly started acting so differently.

"This says you're from the future, and you've displaced your younger self in time," he stated, and Sakura snorted.

"If it weren't for the fact that I've read reports documenting other time travel instances, I'd never believe it myself," she said. "So what now? Konoha protocol dictates this needs to be reported to the Hokage immediately. That'd be the Sandaime still, right?"

Her words implied that the 'future' she came from had a different Hokage, and Sasuke could see that, considering how old the Sandaime was. But how far into the future was she from? Did she know about…? He had to know.

"So you know then? Did I kill Itachi? Did I avenge my clan?"

Sakura simply stared at him that seemed part judging, part pity, and part something else he couldn't identify. Before he could demand she tell him again, she said, "That really is all you can think of, isn't it?"

She sighed, closed her eyes, and raised her fingers to her temple, massaging there. "Let's just say, you got what you wanted, and leave it at that, shall we?"

"So I killed Itachi then?" Sasuke persisted, wanting _proper_ confirmation, but she just sighed at him again.

"Let's just go see the Hokage, alright?" she told him, then turned and started walking, expecting him to follow.

 **So what did you think? Not so sure if I'll make this SasuSaku, but we'll see. ;)**

 **Review please!**


	2. Second Bit

**Hiya! New chapter all ready for you. :) I gotta admit, I have _not_ felt like writing in _ages_. My brain has been a bit dead to inspiration, y'see. Most of this chapter was already done, that's why it was relatively easy to finish it off.**

 **In any case, enjoy this chapter and remember that I don't own the Naruto-verse!**

 **Second Bit**

Sasuke was eyeing Sakura off like she was a dangerous animal all the way to the Hokage tower. Sakura had _really_ changed over the years, going from a useless, annoying fan girl, to… well, he wasn't sure yet. But she seemed confident, if a tad bit angry, though he'd often heard his cousin Shisui moan about violent girls … _b_ _efore_. Maybe that happened when they grew up? He had no clue.

Still, he couldn't deny that her anger right now was justified, stuck in her past self like that.

Sakura was practically stomping along as he followed her, and when they reached the Hokage tower, instead of trying to get in to see their village leader, she led him over to an out of the way office, where some jounin, or even a tokubetsu jounin, was doing some paperwork. Sakura knocked briefly, before going straight in and over to him and bowed respectfully.

"Shinobi-san," she greeted. "I need to fill out form 17S-63, if you have one there."

The guy glanced over to them, eyeing them up, senbon in his mouth flipping up and down as he regarded them. "Just one of you, or both?" he asked.

"Just me, shinobi-san," Sakura said. "But Sasuke here does need to sign form 12B."

The jounin focused his gaze on Sasuke and seemed to consider them. Then he sighed and pulled out some papers from the drawer of his desk.

"Fill these out over there," he said, indicating a pair of chairs off to the side. "Once you're done, I'll take them in to Hokage-sama. Once he's ready to see you, I'll take you in, but _not before then_ , capiche?"

Sakura nodded, and Sasuke followed suit, then Sakura yanked him over to where the two chairs were.

"What are these forms for?" he asked, watching in the corner of his eye as the jounin wandered out of the room to the Hokage's office.

"Form 17S-63 is for S-class secrets, and such," Sakura told him, as she fished a pen out of a pocket somewhere. "Hence the 'S'. The first number is for the coded system for missions, the second number is for the _precise_ intent of the mission. In this case, time travel. Your form is similar, except there's no type, and it's only B-rank. Yours basically just says you're an accessory to a higher ranked mission."

"How do you know all this?" Sasuke demanded, and she shrugged.

"When you become gennin, you start learning about these forms," she told him. "Of course, you have to get promoted to get access to the higher forms and codes. Besides, I was the apprentice of the Fifth Hokage, so there's that, too."

There was _no way_ that Sasuke's eyes just bugged out at that statement. Absolutely _no way_ , he'd deny it _forever_. What he wouldn't deny, of course, was that he was surprised by the revelation. Just… not so surprised that he'd show any visible signs of it, naturally. He was an Uchiha, after all, and proud of his ability to keep his emotions and reactions in check.

Most of the time.

Focusing his attention on the form in front of him, Sasuke filled it out as best he could. Once Sakura was done with hers, she checked his over, tsked at some things, and to his annoyance, made him fix a few things up. When he was done, she snatched the paper from him and dragged him back over to the desk, where the returned shinobi had been staring at them from since he'd come back. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched as the man's gaze landed on him with an amused quirk of his own eyebrow.

"Here you go, shinobi-san," Sakura said. "Should we go back to wait at the chairs now?"

The jounin glanced briefly at the papers, before standing and saying, "Follow me. You two can wait outside the Hokage's office while I talk to him. That way I don't have to come back down here to get you, and then go back up again."

Sasuke gave the guy a _look_ , but Sakura giggled, _giggled_ , at him. "It really is good to know you'll never change, shinobi-san," Sakura said.

"Ah, so you know me?" the jounin commented as they walked. "If that's so, then I give you permission to use my name. Shinobi-san's a bit formal, don't you think?"

Sakura smiled at the guy. "Alright then, Genma-senpai," she said, and they grinned at one another.

Sasuke just huffed and crossed his arms, already bored with their antics.

The trip up to the Hokage office didn't take long. The whole way up, Sasuke tried hard not to think about the last time he'd been here, not long after all his family had been… Clenching his fists at his side, he pushed that thought away and focused on the matter at hand instead. The shinobi, Genma, had already gone into the Hokage's office, and Sakura and himself were waiting for the old man to call them in.

It was awhile before that happened, and when they got in there, Sasuke made note that Genma had stayed.

"Haruno Sakura, is it?" the Sandaime spoke then. "A most promising student at the Academy, if your class scores are anything to go by."

Sakura bowed low to the Hokage. "Yes, Hokage-sama," she said. "Though quite frankly, those 'paper scores' were really the only thing I had going for me when I graduated."

The Hokage looked amused at that. "Our scores as a gennin do not necessarily dictate the rest of our shinobi career," he said.

"Thank the kami for that," Sakura muttered, then smiled brightly.

Bowing deeply, she held out the scroll she'd been keeping in her possession and handed it over to the Hokage. "Hokage-sama," she spoke. "About an hour and a half ago, this scroll was used to accidentally bring me back in time here to my younger self."

"Accidentally?" Sarutobi asked, glancing to Sasuke.

Sakura nudged him, Sasuke glared at her, then cleared his throat and said, "I've been clearing out some of the houses in the compound over the last few days. It… I've been neglecting the task, but classes are on a break, and I thought I'd get some of it done now. On the way over, I noticed Sakura… er… following me. When I dropped one of the scrolls I was carrying, she picked it up to hand it back, and then… well… _this_ happened."

The Hokage contemplated him thoughtfully, and Sasuke refused to _squirm_ under his gaze. Finally, the old man said to them, "We'll have our best experts take a look at the scroll, see if we can find a way to get you back to your own time, Sakura. In the meantime, do you think perhaps that _our_ Sakura is still in there somewhere? Or is she perhaps in the future, inhabiting your own body?"

Sakura seemed to go pale at that last bit. "Oh, kami, I hope not!" she groaned dramatically, and the Hokage chuckled. "There's no way I'll be able to live it down if she is when I go back! I was so _annoying_ at this age!"

"Well then," the Hokage said, still smiling. "Until we can figure out _how_ to get you back, you're going to have to live her life here. I will make sure you get regular reports on our progress. Until then, good luck, Haruno Sakura. You two are dismissed."

Sakura and Sasuke both bowed deeply, then headed out of the office.

 **So what did you think? Review please!**


	3. note of adoption

Hi y'all! So, terrible news… I'm abandoning this author profile. :(

 _But…_ I'm going to post on a fresh, new one! :) In fact, I've already started. It's just that I've got so many fics on here, unfinished and whatnot, and I quite often feel overwhelmed by how much I haven't completed, and it makes me procrastinate like _heck_. So, in the interest of my sanity, I'm dumping it all.

Well, almost all.

Every fic I'm updating with this author note is up for a free-for-all adoption. The only thing I ask is that you keep each chapter the same (or merge them if you want the shorter chapter fics to be longer) with no rewrites, and make sure to credit that you're adopting it from me. If you have any questions, feel free to pm me, I'll still be keeping an eye on this profile. Besides, I disabled pm'ing on the other one.

There are some fics that I _won't_ be adopting out, no matter that they're not complete. Ones like Katana and Earthly Attachment, which are my _babies_. And there are a few that I still plan on continuing under the new pen name, like Petrichor and Ghosts. None of my Sailor Moon fics will be up for adoption, either. This will mostly just be Naruto and Code Geass. And possibly Narnia, I'm still undecided on that.

Anyway, I hope you won't be too put out. Sorry about this, but I really believe this is the only way I can continue writing, and still keep my sanity. :D

EDIT: The new profile is thatsnotmyname32. Just fanfiction for now, I'll get to AO3 soon.


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